灼灼韶华 Wild Ambition Bloom starring 热依扎 Re Yi Zha and 杨祐宁 Yang You Ning. We are familiar with Re Yi Zha from her portrayal of Ye Lan Yi in Empresses in the Palace and has since won several acting awards. This 38 episode drama began airing on Sep 11 on CCTV 8 and Youku. This is a Republic of China era drama and comes fresh off the heels of the breakout drama of the summer 生万物 or This Thriving Land
灼灼韶华 38 2024 9月11日 央视八套 热依扎、杨祐宁 年代
Here’s the plot summary. In 1916, Chu Shao Hua 褚韶华 played by 热依扎 Re Yi Zha marries Chen Da Shun 陈大顺, the oldest son of the Chen Family Pharmacy in order to pay off her older brother’s debts. After her marriage, she showcases canning business acumen and knowledge of Chinese medicine and gains the approval from her father-in-law and becomes the store manager. After the unexpected death of Chen Da Shun and Mr. Chen, the second son of the Chen family inherits the pharmacy and promptly wastes away the family fortunes, straining the business. In the face of adversity, 褚韶华 successfully opens another pharmacy to make a living. Just when she decides to start her new life with an old boyfriend, she is met with fierce resistance from the Chen family. She loses everything after bandits slaughter and steal from the Chen family. Penniless and grieving, she makes her way to Shanghai. She leverages her own experience to find work and become recognized for her business acumen. She becomes acquainted with businessman 闻知秋 Wen Zhi Qiu played by Yang You Ning and two build a new business together.
I feel like for the end of the summer, CCTV-8 took a look at their upcoming slate of dramas and said, yep, I want to have dramas that feature female leads to increase my ratings. Since the end of July, it aired Li Jian Mei Gui Sword Rose, then This Thriving Land, and now Wild Ambition Bloom and CCTV-8 was right! Ratings have gone nowhere but up!
Just when I thought Wild Ambition Bloom would perform well, but won’t beat the strong ratings performance of This Thriving Land, this drama proved me wrong! This drama actually beat This Thriving Land in ratings and now sits atop of the CCTV8 ratings this year.
There was a decent marketing push and I think viewers just really dug Re Yi Zha’s performance. This drama isn’t as much of an ensemble drama as This Thriving Land so the drama really rests on Re Yi Zha’s shoulder, which she delivers. I watched a few episodes and understand why the ratings were so high. Re Yi Zha is a compelling lead and we see her growth. All in all another hit for CCTV 8 and for Re Yi Zha.
赴山海 or The Journey of Legend. This 40 episode drama stars Cheng Yi and Gu Li Na Zha. It began airing on September 11 on iQiYi and Tencent.
赴山海 40 2024 9月11日 爱奇艺/腾讯视频 成毅、古力娜扎 古装
Here’s the plot synopsis: Xiao Ming Ming (ft Cheng Yi 成毅) as a kid was full of passion for justice who loved reading martial-arts (Wuxia) novels . But after becoming an adult, he’s now a timid and dull corporate drone. His only outlet for his childhood passion is to write Wuxia stories online. His writing company developed a “Demon Tome”, essentially an AI system that projects the user as the protagonist into the story. Xiao Ming Ming tried to write a story based on Divine Land Heroes that retold the story with the lead Xiao Qiu Shui as the master of everything. This story was too ridiculous even for the “Demon Tome”. Xiao Ming Ming gets sucked into the AI to live the story of Xiao Qiu Shui and his adventures.
So…this drama is Cheng Yi’s first costume drama to air since 2023’s surprise hit, 莲花楼 or Mysterious Lotus Casebook. This drama reunites much of that entire production, from the director, to much of the cast, to the crew with the hope of recreating the success from Mysterious Lotus Casebook. I reviewed that drama and was much more mellow on it compared to the general consensus.
Because of the goodwill Cheng Yi garnered from his performance of Li Lian Hua in that previous drama, there were high hopes for this drama. Fans poured money into buying “seats” to boost ratings. Millions “reserved” the drama to watch. This drama was originally supposed to air back in May but leaked messages from a female actress created a lot of havoc for the drama and so the release date was pushed back to September. There isn’t another big period drama to air during this time so this was supposed to be the PERFECT time for Journey of Legend to make a big splash.
Unfortunately, the drama, its critical reception, and ratings, were anything but a hit. The drama itself is a muddled mess. I watched the first 15 episodes and can’t get through it. I’ll post my review shortly. Viewers panned the drama for Cheng Yi’s performance and the fact that the drama just doesn’t justify its 300M Yuan price tag. The drama’s ratings on Tencent stalled, not breaching 26000. On iQiYi, it did not reach 10,000. For such a highly anticipated drama, this is terrible. Cheng Yi, the director, and the production have all become laughingstocks on social media. Many are now turned off towards Cheng Yi’s future projects. While I think some of the ridicule aimed at Cheng Yi isn’t warranted, his comments during his press tour were negatively received by the public and just added more fuel to the fire of ridicule. This has not been a good time for him.
Growing Together Season 2 欢乐家长群2. This 40 episode drama began airing on Mango TV on September 15 and on Hunan TV on September 18.
欢乐家长群2 40 2024 9月15日 芒果TV（首播），9月18日 湖南卫视金鹰独播剧场(上星) 张嘉益、陈好 都市
This drama stars 张嘉益 and 陈好 as parents of two and drama features several different families with children of different ages and how they navigate parenthood and childhood together. There’s plotlines of unexpected pregnancies, kids getting addicted to their phones, grandparents getting married so all fun shenanigans.
Season 1 aired in early 2024 and had decent ratings on Hunan TV. Seeing this success, the network quickly greenlit a season 2 and to everyone’s excitement, much of the original cast returned for season 2. I haven’t watched either seasons but I have been following this on social media and I LOVE the young kids. They’re all in primary school and they have the cutest reactions and fights.
This drama reunites Wang Xiao Chen and Liu Rui Ling in their 3rd drama together as the young divorced couple but trying to reconcile. I watched them as the secondary couple in My Best Guy Friend like 10 years ago and really shipped them. Seems like I’m not the only one because all the posts online have been about shipping them as a couple.
This drama has done fine. I think viewership is a bit lower than Hunan TV would have liked but the reviews I’ve seen online have been solid. It’s a fun and engaging family friendly drama. Go watch it for the kids, they are VERY cute.
Mobius – Bai Jing Ting returns in this sci fi drama that actually garnered quite a bit of interest. It’s a short drama, only 16 episodes long.
不眠日 16 2024 9月17日 爱奇艺（首播），9月18日 东方卫视（上星） 白敬亭、文咏珊、宋洋 科幻
An explosion at a bank breaks the calm at Hua Ao city. Police officer Ding Qi ft Bai Jing Ting is at the crime scene but realizes it is oddly peaceful because he knows that this is not the final ending, but rather, a recurring or looping day. The world will enter 5 loops where at midnight, the day restarts. Only he can use the time loop to help solve different crimes. A new loop starts but odd things start occurring. More deaths occur and there is a mysterious warning given. Ding Qi realizes he is not the only one with the keys to time. The 5 day loop will be the final battle as we uncover this mystery.
This drama is short, but got decent buzz given its rather unique premise.
吴邪私家笔记 or Time Raider. This 18 episode drama stars Wu Zhen Yu or Francis Ng, Cao Lei and Xu Zhen Xuan and began airing on September 20th on Tencent. It’s a modern supernatural mystery drama. Think tomb raider or like the mummy series.
吴邪私家笔记 18 2020 9月20日 腾讯视频 吴镇宇、曹磊、徐振轩 都市
This is another drama about Wu Xie in the universe of 盗墓笔记 or Time Raiders, which are based off a novel of the same name. There’ve been countless adaptations of the novels and subsequent book releases in this universe all with varying degrees of success. 吴邪私家笔记 is the latest entry. Honestly, I would translate the name to be Wu Xi’s Private Diaries.
Here’s the plot summary. Antique shop owner Wu Xie unexpectedly acquires a mysterious silk manuscript. His third uncle, 吴三省, discovers that there is a mysterious map hidden within this silk manuscript. 吴三省 forms an expedition team with Wu Xie, Pan Zi 潘子, Zhang Qiling, and Da Kui 大奎, to investigate the location marked on the map. During the expedition, Wu Xie befriends fellow adventurer 王胖子. The crew face all sorts of dangers and mysteries. Their search yields unexpected results with missing friends and hidden secrets.
Critical review of this drama has been mixed to positive. People quite enjoyed 徐振轩’s portrayal of Wu Xie. Xu Zheng Xuan is also starring in Journey of Legend right now so people have been seeing plenty of him. I haven’t really paid attention to this universe and I’m glad there continues to be output BUT i feel like there’s so many versions of Wu Xie and Zhang Qi Ling that i’m like ANOTHER ONE?
芬芳喜事 32 2024 9月22日 腾讯视频 李嘉琦、何赛飞、任豪、昌隆 古装
Next up is 芬芳喜事 or Hilarious Family 2. Boy there’s a lot of sequels or continuations of dramas for this month. This 32 episode drama began airing on September 22 on tencent and stars 李嘉琦、何赛飞、任豪、昌隆.
This is a fun down to earth period drama. Here’s the plot synopsis – Inn owner 艾四喜（李嘉琦饰）has the mantra of 爱自己 艾四喜 or love myself I’m Ai Si Xi. She’s all about the single life. In one ridiculous court case, she loses her inn and must find a suitor to marry in order to avoid exile. 秦坎（任豪饰）was once rescued by 艾四喜 and uh is persuaded to marry her to save her. The two unexpectedly become embroiled the the business matters of tea and 经坎’s family who run a sizeable tea business. There’s 秦坎’s ambitious mother 罗洙泗（何赛飞饰), a seemingly kind grandmother 魏君一（曹翠芬饰), a haughty older sister 秦珍珠（锤娜丽莎饰) and many more in this raucous family. Ai Si Xi must navigate her way through all these “characters” to find her own family.
This drama reunites the cast of 2023’s 兰闺喜事 or Hilarious Family 1 which starred much of the same cast such as 刘琳、李嘉琦、and 任豪. I watched the first episode and it was HILARIOUS. It’s basically just skits combined into one and while it’s set in a time period reminiscent of the Ming Dynasty, I feel like it’s watching a comedy show with people wearing period costume. There’s nothing wrong with that as all the actors and actresses are having a blast in this drama. This drama reunites Liu Lin who played Wang Da Niang Zi in The Story of Ming Lan with 曹翠芬 who played Grandma Sheng in The Story of Ming Lan and viewers are like YAYYY these two are together again as daughter in law and mother in law. There’s the actress who played Qi Fei in Empresses in the Palace and the jokes are flying with “aw, she can finally wear pink!”.
The first drama must have done well enough to warrant another drama with the same cast and so far I’m enjoying it.
Love’s Ambition
许我耀眼 32 2024 9月26日 腾讯视频(首播)，9月28日 东方卫视(上星) 赵露思、陈伟霆 都市
This 32 episode modern day drama dropped with literally no warning on Tencent and is also airing on Dong Fan television. It stars Zhao Lu Si and Chen Wei Ting.
News anchor Xu Yan ft Zhao Lu Si and high powered architected Shen Hao Ming ft Chen Wei Ting are a couple that is admired by many. However, because of Xu Yan’s lower status upbringing, she struggles to integrate into Shen Hao Ming’s social circles where he was born with money. Xu Yan works very hard to package herself to the world that fits Shen Hao Ming’s status and they marry. However, conflict arises and XuYan opts to leave the marriage. She n Hao Ming realizes that he already fell deeply in love with Xu Yan and does everything he can to chase her back. Finally, the two shed their masks and start anew.
I’ll be honest, I had absolutely no idea what the plot was about other than it being a modern day drama until I started translating it. But uhhh what? They marry and then divorce but then he realizes he does love her? I am so confused and this initial description um…not sure if I’m a fan.
I’m going to start watching it this weekend to figure out exactly what’s going on and hopefully it’ll be better than what this BaiDu summary says. I expect it to be better because it has done exceptionally well for a drama that had absolutely no marketing whatsoever. Regardless of whether or not you are a Zhao Lu Si fan, she has been the center of quite a bit of discussion this year. She even deactivated her Weibo account in an act of anger. So, it was quite the surprise when the drama actually just dropped. But, that just goes to show Zhao Lu Si’s star power.
The drama has breached 32000 on Tencent’s popularity index, a record for a modern day drama and is the best showing for a drama on Tencent this year. That is really quite impressive.
If you’ve already watched it or are actively chasing it, feel free to let me know your thoughts.
Fated Hearts – the drama that just aired today and stars Li Qin and Chen Zhe Yuan in this historical romance drama that is 38 episodes long on iQiYi.
一笑随歌 2024 10月2日 爱奇艺 李沁、陈哲远、夏梦、张兆辉、盛英豪、徐小飒、丁嘉文、胡然、卢星宇、萨顶顶、杜雨宸、贾景晖 古装
Li Qin plays Jin Xiu kingdom’s top female archer, Fu Yi Xiao, who is part of the Zhen Nan Army. Feng Sui Ge ft Chen Zhe Yuan is the first prince of the Su Sha kingdom. He and his men are attacking the Jin Xiu kingdom gates but he is shot and heavily injured by a powerful arrow from Fu Yi Xiao. His army loses the battle and he is forced to retreat due to his injuries. Meanwhile, Fu Yi Xiao is also heavily injured. She fell off a cliff, lost her memory and the use of her left arm. Fortunately, she is saved by a female doctor and is brought back to their residence where Fu Yi Xiao slowly recovers. Feng Sui Ge also arrives at the secret medical base for treatment. He encounters Fu Yi Xiao only to discover that she lost her memory and realizes that she must have been betrayed, just like he was to lose the battle. He brutally interrogates her first and she remembers some of her past but is full of anger and vows for revenge. The two opt to come to an agreement and work together to find their respective enemies.
This is the 3rd costume drama this year to feature a female general and many of the color schemes are similar. However, out of the three this year, Legend of the Female General, SHadow Love and Fated Hearts, Fated Hearts featuring Li QIn is definitely the most believable. Her martial arts fighting is quite impressive and she has that aura of lethality, bloodthirstiness and anger that was not present in Zhou Ye and Song Yi. You can actually believe she is a very skilled archer and she is able to emote as such. Chen Zhe Yuan also surprised me to the upside. I haven’t watched him in anything but his enunciation isn’t bad here.
The drama is a super fast paced, high production value show. It’s also mixed with tons of fighting which I’m enjoying quite a bit. It’s bloody but not gory. There are blood splurts abound to showcase Li Qin’s Fu Yi Xiao murdering a bunch of assassins so be aware of that, but otherwise, I think it’s ok. This is a drama where romance is on the backburner as both the main male lead and female lead are focused on beating the other up and seeing each other as actual equals. It’s actually kind of brutal what happens to both of them, but still entertaining. The show has breached 7000 in its first 24 hours of airing, which is a decent showing for this drama with little promotion. I will definitely be chasing it.
Love in the Clouds – 36 episode drama on Youku that will start airing on October 8
This fantasy drama features Hou Ming Hao and Lu Yu Xiao. Here’s the plot. At the cloud conference, Ji Bo Zai ft Hou Ming Hao, someone who was originally a prisoner, defeats the crown prince of Yao Guang mountain. However, this crown prince is actually a woman in disguise, Ming Yi ft Lu Yu Xiao. In order to discover the truth about a poisoning, she enters enemy territory to get closer to JI Bo Zai. The 2 put on various disguises or fronts to test each out. As they grow closer, they also uncover a bigger plot happening around them.